Three years ago, I invested $32,000 and the better part of two years at the University of Washington for a master's degree in International Studies.

The verdict? It wasn't a complete waste of time and money. Once I accepted that 80% of the course requirements were designed to keep people busy, I enjoyed the other 20% of the work. If you're strictly interested in learning, however, you may want to get a better return-on-investment than I did. Here's how to save $32,000 (or more) through your own self-directed, alternative program.Here's how to save $32,000 (or more) through your own self-directed, alternative program. The One-Year, Self-Directed, Alternative Graduate School Experience • Subscribe to The Economist and read every issue religiously. .
• Memorize the names of every country, world capital, and current president or prime minister in the world. .
• Read the basic texts of the major world religions: the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran, and the teachings of Buddha. Study hard!
Foreign Language Teaching Methods.

About the Site Foreign Language Teaching Methods focuses on 12 different aspects of language teaching, each taught by a different expert instructor.

The site contains video footage from an actual methods course held at the University of Texas at Austin. This flexible resource is designed to be used by foreign language teachers as a component of a classroom methods course or as a stand-alone course for independent learners. “While I was taking this course, I was already changing what I was doing and I can already see the difference. ” - Verónica, beginning language teacher (Spanish) “I loved having a different teacher [for each module]
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- Sarah, beginning language teacher (ESL) “People have so many different creative ideas you can draw from and use for your own class.”

1659-1661. Ten Economic Blunders from History - John S. Chamberlain. Take cover when you hear a political leader talking about economic affairs. You can bet a bad decision is incoming. Luckily for the leaders, their meddling usually has a slow, erosive effect on the economy. Every so often, however, the great ones manage to land a real whopper that takes them down along with their whole country. Here are ten examples from history. 1. In the year 301, the Roman emperor Diocletian issued the Edictum De Pretiis Rerum Venalium, i.e., the Edict on Prices of Foodstuffs, which rebalanced the coinage system and set maximums on wages and the prices of many types of goods, especially food. 2. You know you are doing something wrong when your enemies become folk heroes like Robin Hood.
Hans Bethe: Quantum Theory Made Relatively Simple.